Strother Martin

In 1936 he won the National Junior Sringboard Division Championship at age 17. He never won the adult championship, finishing second in 1944 and third in 1946. Although he barely missed making the 1948 Olympic Team, he did gain access to Hollywood by giving swimming lessons to Marion Davies at San Simeon and the children of Charles Chaplin. He was hired as a swimming extra in films between 1948-50, including The Damned Don't Cry (1950).

Martin served in the U.S. Navy from 1942-1946, according to the site Navy.weservedtogether. He was stationed in San Diego, California, at the HQ of the Recruit Training Command (RTC) as cadre/facility staff. His rating was SP(A), an athletic instructor (someone has to teach sailors how to swim). His highest rank was Petty Officer Third Class. He was awarded the American Campaign and WWII Victory medals.

American character actor who achieved considerable fame in the last decade of his life. A native of Kokomo, Indiana, Strother Martin Jr. was the youngest of three children of Strother Douglas Martin, a machinist, and Ethel Dunlap Martin. His family moved soon after his birth to San Antonio, Texas, but quickly returned to Indiana. Strother Jr. grew up in Indianapolis and in Cloverdale, Indiana. He excelled at swimming and diving, and at 17 won the National Junior Springboard Diving Championship. He attended the University of Michigan as diving team member. He served in the U. S. Navy as a swimming instructor in World War II. Nicknamed "T-Bone" Martin for his diving style, his 3rd place finish in the adult National Springboard Diving Championships cost him a place on the 1948 Olympic team. He moved to California to become an actor, but worked in odd jobs and as a swimming instructor to Marion Davies and the children of Charles Chaplin. He found work as a swimming extra in several films and as a leprechaun on a local children's TV show, "Mabel's Fables. " Bit parts came his way, leading to television work with Sam Peckinpah, which led to a lifelong relationship.

During the 1950s and 1960s he was active in Arthur Kennedy's Stage Society, along with Gary Cooper, Akim Tamiroff, Jeff Corey, Tony Curtis, Mildred Dunnock, Anthony Quinn and Patricia Neal.

Appeared in six movies with John Wayne: The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), McLintock! (1963), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), True Grit (1969) and Rooster Cogburn (1975).

He also found memorable roles for John Ford and by the 1960s was a familiar face in American movies.

Did an episode of the The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) called "Baby Fat" in which he portrayed a playwright based on Tennessee Williams in 1965. Fifteen years later while hosting Saturday Night Live (1975), he admitted during the monologue that because of that part, many times he was actually mistaken for the famous playwright.

With Cool Hand Luke (1967) in 1967 came new acclaim and a place among the busiest character actors in Hollywood.

In 1970 the First Annual Strother Martin Film Festival was held at Chico State College in Chico, CA.

Played a character named Stoner in two unrelated movies: Sssssss (1973) and Up In Smoke (1978).

He collaborated with friend and filmmaker J.D. Feigelson on dialog in the screenplay for the cult film Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981). Feigelson was writing the film to star Strother, but before it could be set for production he passed away. Charles Durning replaced Martin in the lead role of Otis P. Hazelrigg. One of the memorable lines in the film was Martin's contribution: "He's thirty-three years old, Mrs. Ritter, he's physically mature".

Interviewed in "Bad at the Bijou" by William R. Horner (McFarland, 1982).